In a 7-0 per curiam decision announced today, the Supreme Court of Ohio permanently revoked the license of former McConnellsville attorney Joseph Norman Williams.

The Court adopted findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that Williams, whose license has been under an interim suspension since his 2010 felony convictions on three counts of child rape, should be permanently disbarred for violations of the state discipline rules that prohibit an attorney from engaging in illegal conduct involving moral turpitude, and engaging in conduct that adversely reflects on an attorney’s fitness to practice law.

Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment for his convictions, and is currently incarcerated at the Mansfield Correctional Institution.

The opinion is linked here. The court finds that permanent disbarment is the appropriate sanction for the offense as it is for crimes such as murder. The attorney raped his seven-year old nephew. (Mike Frisch)